IDPA Japan Design Award

OCT&LONGFOR Suzhou Qiyuan Future Exhibition Center Project

by Youting Zhu

Projet Description


Universe, time and future are the themes explored in Xiangcheng exhibition space. As an artificial urban galaxy, it restores the initial daydream of human beings about interstellar space. The project is located in Xiangcheng District, downtown Suzhou, and in the southeast of Jiangsu Province, China. TCD² Design combines the geometric vocabulary of circles and arcs to build a streamlined "future illusion", and provides visitors with an immersive experience and a mirror image of the real world through the presentation of multimedia light and shadow and digital technology.
01/ Conception & Refinement-Extension of Time
The core features of the design concept are infinite rings and gradually dyed stones, which are derived from the local symbols of Xiangcheng, Tianjie Future Ring and Chinese painting techniques, respectively. They are derived from the present, implying the future, echoing the process of old and new alternation in Xiangcheng, and the time axis of dialogue between the past and the future. With the super symbol of Xiangcheng Tianjie as the carrier, the super ring element is applied in the negotiation area, symbolizing that the boundary between reality and non-reality is broken in a limited space. Through the integration, deduction and deformation of the ring, the abstract form of time is reconstructed, and an infinitely extended multi-dimensional scene is created. The dyeing technique of traditional Chinese painting, also known as rendering, uses a brush to drag and dye colors, without revealing pen marks, forming a gradual effect of colors from thick to light. This impression is applied to the stone and wall of the exhibition center, fading away the complicated colors and enthusiasm, and then blending in the smudged elements to extract the quiet monochrome world.
02/ Past & Modern —— Abstract East
Xiangcheng used to be a water town in the south of the Yangtze River with white walls and black tiles. The gradual elements of ink and wash are designed and extracted into the background color of marble texture, and run through the whole exhibition center, such as walking in modern ink and wash paintings and interpreting contemporary artistic orient in space. Silver ash is a color with science and technology and the future, with its own sci-fi imagination. The ink drops falling from the dome, like time flowing in nature, attract people's attention, be attracted by the mysterious tunnel of light and shadow, and then step into the Galaxy Wonderland.
03/ Numbers & Light and Shadow-Fantasy Time and Space
This is a Interstellar from the past to the future, and it is also a fantastic journey to break the reality and reshape the universe. The immersive light hall channel brings us a three-dimensional and three-dimensional audio-visual interactive experience through changing light and shadow, mysterious colors and transparent materials, combined with multimedia art and visual presentation of photoelectric digital images.
Light and shadow complement each other, creating a dreamy virtual reality world, and entering the city theater with the passage of the light hall is like falling into the space of self-awareness from the fantasy starry sky at once. The endless black and white and light and shadow wrap people in it, and a touch of light screen above weaves the gap between breathing and thinking, just like looking up at the blue parent star in space, returning to peace instantly.
04/ Arc & Trajectory-Symbol of the Future
The future, as opposed to the past and the present, is a concept of time that will never come. People's imagination of science and technology, the future and different latitudes can only be composed of frames of pictures. And rings, arcs and domes ..... are the epitome and symbols of modern people's imagination of the future of science and technology. In the negotiation space, symbols such as arcs and rings are extracted, wrapped layer by layer, and the tension is strengthened. The concise lines overlap with the power of arc to form a "shell", and visitors seem to be in an interstellar space capsule. The circular chandelier that shuttles through the space is like the trajectory of a planet, which runs through the galaxy in series.

Youting Zhu


Founder & General Manager
Shanghai Pingze Interior Design Office (TCD²)
Living in Singapore in his early years.
During his career, he served well-known real estate developers and hotel management companies at home and abroad.
The participating projects have won many awards such as Andrew Martin, Aite Award, Huading Award, Golden Plate Award, Jintang Award, Golden Ring, Real Estate Design Award, etc.
His works have been reported by many new media such as global design, wrist design and design together.
Design concept: Committed to studying the coexistence of art and architectural space, insisting that any space has its uniqueness, and art and space are mutually soluble and compatible. For the design, we can find free senses, independent spirit and innovative courage. With the design concept rooted in minimalism and the work as the medium, the unique temperament of each design is called out.

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